Well, Kill The Robot is a blast of fresh air. Blending driving guitars, layers of keys, plaintive vocals, and punchy drums and bass, this self-titled debut marks the arrival on the scene of a powerful new outfit that puts arena-sized hooks at the centre of all they do. Whilst the presence of Stephen Gibb, son of Bee Gees legend Barry, may be an attention-grabbing selling point, the guitarist/vocalist is just one element in the machine.
Kill The Robot – Kill The Robot
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Paul Monkhouse
Fellow travelers Gil Bitton on vocals, drummer J.P. Espititusanto, and studio bass player Kenny Cordova, along with keys player Ben Stivers, all bring their own touches, and with the sparkling production by Gibb and Warren Riker making the numbers pop, it is a thrilling first entry.
Shot through with touches of radio-friendly rock, along with a bit of prog, Kill The Robot never lack ambition, and there feels an eternal struggle between dark and light, the delicious tension like watching a tightrope walker on an unfeasibly high wire.
Things certainly start with a bang, the twisty and soaring Mothership and a driving Western Shores bring an otherworldly edge that sounds like an extraterrestrial combo jamming with a dirty bar band. The is it/isn’t it joyous love song of See The World touches some deep emotions and highlights their knack for writing some truly classy rockers.
Bright blazes of colour and a riot of pastel shades give texture to the release, the fractured and intoxicating Better Than sitting happily alongside Summer Days, an evocative number that sounds like Then Jericho did at their peak.
This is not all sunshine, though, as the second half walks down some shadier avenues, the gothic cyberpunk of Noi3lse, tough as nails Agave, and the sleazy wooze of Right Now, displaying a very different side of their nature. A sensual Drug and the cataclysmic Atomic Haze bring things to an incendiary close, the temperature climbing from a slow simmer to a volcanic explosion.
Experimental in feel, there is a sense of a band pushing boundaries and doing whatever they please as they start on a journey that may find them roaming down some even more unexpected paths. Whilst it’s a little too early to say they have found their signature sound, the album is way too varied for that. Cohesion exists, and there is already plenty to take in sonically and truly absorb.
Who knows where they will go next? But if justice is seen to be done, a growing legion of fans will have joined them in a sweet ache of anticipation, having found their new favourite band. Surprising, involving and life-affirming, Kill The Robot have certainly made their mark and the future looks very rosy indeed.
Kill The Robot is out now via Dark Lab Recordings. For more details, visit https://killtherobot.komi.io/
